


Tears for the Ninja Who Fell

by SnappleNinja



Category: Lego Ninjago
Genre: Best Friends, Cell Phones, Grief/Mourning, Implied Jay/Nya, Not Really Character Death, Platonic Jay and Cole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-05
Updated: 2019-05-05
Packaged: 2020-02-26 16:50:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18721096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SnappleNinja/pseuds/SnappleNinja
Summary: "Jay couldn’t breathe, couldn’t blink, couldn’t think as he watched his best friend’s flailing body fall down into the darkness of the Oni cloud.  Within a matter of moments Cole was gone from view, almost like when you accidentally dropped your favorite toy down the drain of your kitchen sink.  It was frightening, and almost didn’t feel real to Jay."After Cole's fall in Episode 97, Jay reflects on all of the previous hurt that Cole endured, and mourns over his best friend's tragic and sudden death.





	Tears for the Ninja Who Fell

**_“COLE!!!”_ **

Jay couldn’t breathe, couldn’t blink, couldn’t _think_ as he watched his best friend’s flailing body fall down into the darkness of the Oni cloud.  Within a matter of _moments_ Cole was gone from view, almost like when you accidentally dropped your favorite toy down the drain of your kitchen sink.  It was _frightening,_ and almost didn’t feel real to Jay.

Cole was the strongest ninja, everyone always said - Maybe not in power, like Lloyd, but in all the toughness that his body and heart could muster.  Cole had been a leader to the guys, whether he always held the official title or not.  In many ways, he held the heart of the team in ways that Jay couldn’t, and possessed the mind of the team in ways Zane didn’t.

He was their teammate – their _brother._

And now he was gone from view, gone from Jay…

As soon as the _Bounty_ had gained enough room between herself and the darkness that threatened to take them too, Zane hoisted up the ladder that Jay dangled on to, helping the Lightning Ninja to the deck.

The Nindroid didn’t say a word, but rather embraced Jay in a tight hug, helping the ninja to stay on his feet while he shook and sobbed over his lost friend.

Jay had overheard Kai and Zane arguing earlier just after Cole had fell, how Kai had attempted to turn the ship around to go after his brother.  Fortunately for the sake of their survival, Zane had managed to calm the Fire Ninja and regain control over the _Bounty,_ shortly thereafter handing the wheel to Nya.

Surely, they all would have met the same fate Cole did if they had stayed a moment longer, but at the moment Jay wanted nothing more than to be with his best friend in whatever afterlife had taken him.

* * *

It was only a few hours later when the remaining members of the team had finally sighted PIXAL’s mech in the sky, plummeting down to the ground at an extreme speed due to an absence of fuel.  Nya managed to pilot the _Bounty_ in the path of it, barely saving the mech’s passengers from their dark, cold fate that waited below.

PIXAL, Lloyd, and Garmadon were all pulled out, each of them with only minor injuries.  The mech would need substantial repair, but that was the least of anyone’s concerns at the moment. 

Then Lloyd and Garmadon had gotten into an argument there on the deck, only shortly after the terrible news of Cole’s fall had been shared with the Green Ninja.  Lloyd was devastated, and Garmadon…well, Garmadon didn’t seem to care.  Lloyd yelled, Garmadon yelled…all the others could do was stand there and watch awkwardly.

Lloyd finally yelled to his father that there was more to life than surviving, and then stormed off of the deck in sheer anger and distaste.  Jay felt like following him.

After a few more comments from Garmadon, the rest of the ninja, including Jay, all left the deck, finding places to make themselves useful, calm down from the fighting, or…mourn.

* * *

That night, Jay mourned hard.  Looking at dozens of group selfies and photos on his phone, the Lightning Ninja smiled sadly back on those fond memories he had made with Cole, from the day Wu had assembled the team all the way to just that past week.

There had to be some way Cole had survived, right?  Perhaps Cole had managed to summon his Elemental Dragon, or perform Airjitzu-

 _Oh, that’s right,_ Jay thought glumly to himself.  _None of us have been able to do either of those things in over a year._  Jay felt a deep hurt in the pit of his stomach.  His soul felt cold, and his eyes glazed over with fresh tears that threatened to fall.  Jay leaned back in his bed, his back pressed against the wall; he set his phone down, and stared up at the ceiling as thousands of sorrowful thoughts filled his head.

_Why did it have to be Cole?_

_What did he do to **deserve** this?_

Life wasn’t fair.  Jay figured he probably should have known that much by now, after all that the team had gone through.  Being captured by numerous foes, taking blame for crimes that weren’t their own, Lloyd being possessed by a ghost…

…Cole turning into a ghost.

It only made it feel worse for Jay to remember all the bad stuff that had happened to Cole prior to his fall, and he tried to no avail to put away his thoughts and go to sleep.  Unfortunately, there were still plenty of citizens from the NGTV News building that needed to be brought to safety, not to mention that they would need to plan how to stop the Oni at this point.

Jay heard footsteps outside the bedroom, and spotted through the small opening between the door and the doorframe a dark figure walking by silently.  As the footsteps grew farther away, and with their distance also becoming fainter, Jay sighed.  He had almost forgotten.

 _Garmadon_ was still living on the _Bounty._   Jay wished he could forgive the man, even somewhat, but even Lloyd at this point seemed to have given up on trying to redeem his father.  Jay had been told by Nya and Lloyd about the horrible things Garmadon did as Emperor of Ninjago, and, honestly?  That was more than enough to completely drop any desires to give the part-Oni a second chance.

Jay finally took one last look at a photo of Cole that was plastered on the wall of the ninja’s sleeping quarters, and then left the room to aid the others in planning a counterattack.

* * *

It had been many hours since Cole’s fall and now the ninja stood in a ready stance at the entrance of the Monastery, armed with their recently reclaimed Golden Weapons.  The Overlord’s Golden Armor had been just what Kai needed to reforge them, and now all four weapons were in the ninja’s possession.

Jay held his Nunchucks of Lightning with a tight grip, knowing that this may very well end up being his final fight.  The sounds of the Oni marching up the Mountain of a Million Steps grew closer, at such a tediously slow rate.  It sent shivers down the Lightning Ninja’s spine. 

Jay looked over at Nya, his girlfriend and hopefully soon-to-be Yang.  Every so often Jay would fiddle around with the medallion piece in his pocket, worrying that he may never get the chance to ask her.  Jay’s eyes examined the weapon Nya held, the golden Scythe of Quakes.  It had been _Cole’s, a_ nd as much as Jay loved Nya with all his heart, he knew she would never be able to replace Cole. 

Within a few minutes, the Oni reached the top of the mountain and the fight began, the ninja trying their hardest with the combined strength of the Golden Weapons and their elemental powers.  Their small chance of victory was fleeting, and the Oni were growing even closer to finishing their goal.

What happened next was beyond Jay’s expectations.  He couldn’t have _imagined_ this to happen, but it did.  As the Oni surrounded the ninja, the ground beneath them began to shake and crumble, and out of the rock a large drill shot out onto the surface.  Jay quickly recognized it as the Earth Driller from the ninja’s fight against the Stone Warriors on the Dark Island all those years ago.  _Nya must’ve fixed it up recently,_ Jay realized.

The cockpit opened with a low _hisss_ and out came none other than Cole.  The messy black-haired ninja gave a trademark smirk as he looked over at his friends, and everyone voiced their surprise and joy at Cole’s survival.

Jay felt numb.  He felt that he must have been dreaming in that moment.  He saw Cole _fall._

Soon Cole joined the battle, and things began to look bright.  Jay had his best friend back, and he never felt better.


End file.
